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A gunman killed at least 10 people, including a police officer, in a Colorado supermarket in the latest shooting in the western state, which has been the scene of two previous mass murders in the United States.
The suspect, Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, 21, was charged today with 10 counts of murder after receiving hospital treatment for injuries he sustained during an exchange of gunfire with the police.
Boulder Police Chief Maris Herold told a news conference: “He is charged with 10 counts of first degree murder and will soon be booked into the Boulder County jail.”
The police chief also read, one by one, the names of the 10 people killed in the attack, men and women between the ages of 20 and 65, including a policeman who was the father of seven.
The attack on King Soopers in Boulder County, 50 kilometers northwest of the state capital, Denver, occurred Monday afternoon.
The massacre came less than a week after another gunman gunned down eight people at various spas in the Georgia state capital, Atlanta. The suspect in that case also faces murder charges.
Together, the killings sparked new calls for American politicians to act against the country’s notoriously lax gun ownership laws.
Tighter gun control is overwhelmingly popular with Americans, backed by President Joe Biden, but Republicans have long opposed what they see as a minority violation of their right to bear arms.
With a Senate Judiciary hearing already scheduled for Tuesday, the familiar bipartisan divide was emerging once again.
“Too many families in too many places are forced to endure this unfathomable pain and anguish,” House Democrat Nancy Pelosi said in a statement.
“Action is needed now to prevent this scourge from continuing to devastate our communities,” he said.
Among the dead was “heroic” police officer Eric Talley, 51, who was the first to respond to the scene at a King Soopers supermarket, Police Chief Maris Herold said.
“We know of ten deaths at the scene, including one of our Boulder police officers … Officer Tally responded to the scene – he was the first on the scene – and was fatally shot,” Ms. Herold said.
Video broadcast live earlier showed a middle-aged white man, shirtless and apparently covered in blood, detained by police and taken from the supermarket.
The suspect in custody was the only person suffering “serious injuries at this time,” Police Commander Kerry Yamaguchi said, without confirming that the man in the video was the suspect, or any possible motive.
President Joe Biden, who last month asked Congress to enact “common sense” gun law reforms, had been briefed on the shooting, White House press secretary Jen Psaki tweeted.
Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the Senate “must and will move forward with legislation to help stop the epidemic of gun violence.”
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“My heart breaks as we watch this unspeakable event unfold in our Boulder community,” Colorado Governor Jared Polis said, calling the incident a “senseless tragedy.”
“Words cannot do justice to the tragedy that has unfolded this afternoon,” Boulder Mayor Sam Weaver tweeted.
Police responded to phone calls of gunfire in the area, and a possible person with a patrol rifle, around 2.30pm local time (8.30pm Irish time), Ms. Herold said.
Eyewitnesses inside the supermarket said they heard multiple shots before fleeing through a back entrance.
“They almost killed me for buying a soda and a bag of potato chips,” Ryan Borowski, who was at the store, told CNN when he heard at least eight shots.
“It felt amazing that everyone was helping each other and our instincts were on the same page and we ran … I don’t know why other people didn’t, and I’m sorry they froze. This just didn’t happen.”
The first unverified images broadcast live by a witness showed at least three people lying face down on the ground both inside and outside the store, before more shots were heard.
Dozens of armored vehicles, ambulances and armed personnel, including FBI agents and SWAT teams, were deployed to the scene.
Later, shoppers who had been safely removed from the store sat wrapped in blankets, talking to emergency workers in the snow-covered parking area.
“The actions of the police officers were heroic,” Ms. Herold said, adding that the “very complex investigation” would take at least five days to complete.
“Our hearts are shattered by this senseless act of violence,” said King Soopers spokeswoman Kelli McGannon, praising the “first responders who responded so bravely to these acts of violence.”
The shooting follows another mass shooting last week at Asian-owned spas in the southeastern state of Georgia that left eight people dead.
Colorado has previously suffered two of the most infamous mass shootings in American history.
In 1999, two teenagers shot dead 12 classmates and a teacher at Columbine High School before taking their own lives.
Then, in 2012, a heavily armed man broke into a theater showing a Batman movie in Aurora, Colorado, murdering 12. The gunman is now serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
President Biden said last month that he wanted Congress to pass laws that would require background checks on all gun sales and ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.
“This administration will not wait for the next mass shooting to take that call,” Biden said.
Yesterday, Colorado Senator Michael Bennet, a Democrat, urged Americans to “revisit a national conversation on gun violence that does not revert to partisanship.”
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